VANCOUVER ‘ The Bruins and Canucks were scoreless during Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals when an interesting video was played on the video board at Rogers Arena. It was Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki, who had two messages, the first of which was ‘Go Canucks.’ From there, he gave a shout-out to defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, whom he called ‘my boy ‘Hoff.’

The connection was easy to make right off the bat. Both Nowitzki and Ehrhoff hail from Germany, and with both playing in the finals of their respective sports, it is an exciting time. Yet in endorsing one side of this matchup, Nowitzki may have slighted another German player in Bruins’ defenseman Dennis Seidenberg.

‘I talked to a German reporter, I talked to Dirk,’ Seidenberg said Friday at the University of Vancouver. ‘The Dallas Mavericks’ trainer is either a Vancouver fan or from Vancouver, I’m not sure. He always keeps him up to date, tells him stories. I guess that’s the reason he’s cheering for them.’

If Nowitzki is a fan of German hockey players, he’s in a win-win scenario. Because both Ehrhoff and Seidenberg are in the series, one will become the second German player in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup. Prior to this series, only defenseman Uwe Krupp has won the Cup, which he did in 1996 as a member of the Avalanche. In that series, Krupp scored the Cup-clinching goal in triple overtime of Game 4 against the Panthers.

‘There’s going to be a second German Stanley Cup champion after Uwe Krupp,’ Ehrhoff said with a smile earlier this week. ‘That’s definitely very special for German hockey. Hopefully it’s going to be me.’

Ehrhoff and Seidenberg know both each other and Krupp very well. The two have played together on national teams since they were 17, and they were defensive partners in the Olympics last year under Krupp, the head coach of the national team.

Seidenberg said Krupp had wished him and Ehrhoff luck prior to the series. No. 44 has been perhaps the Bruins’ best defenseman throughout the playoffs, though it would take a lot for him to be able to top Krupp’s game-winner against John Vanbiesbrouck. Seidenberg remembers when Krupp became the first German player to win the Cup, even if he didn’t catch it live.

‘I was sleeping, but I watched it the next day, and I remember histshot from the point,’ Seidenberg said with a laugh. ‘I remember the goal. It was pretty big back then, so it was exciting.’

Though Ehrhoff and Seidenberg haven’t been in much contact with one another as they battle for the Stanley Cup, they are close with one another and have tried to see one another for dinner or coffee when their teams have met in past regular seasons.

‘We’ve known each other since the Under-18 national team,’ Ehrhoff said. ‘We like each other, we understand each other well off the ice, but right now we’re not really talking. It has to wait until after.’

Both players noted that there is a heightened interest in North American sports in Germany at the moment given that Nowitzki, Seidenberg and Ehrhoff all have a shot at a title. Ehrhoff said he’s spent plenty of time in interviews with radio stations back in Germany, and relatives of both defenseman have travelled or will travel to see it in person.

Either way, Germany will get its second Stanley Cup champion, but don’t expect either player to be happy with seeing the other guy do it.